9/11 Hijackers Used Mace And Knives, Panel Reports
By Sara Kehaulani Goo and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, January 28, 2004; Page A01
The hijackers of Sept. 11, 2001, blasted Mace or pepper spray at flight crew members and passengers to keep them away from the cockpits and wielded knives in their orchestrated takeovers of the aircraft, according to a report issued yesterday by the commission investigating the attacks.
The report provides the most comprehensive picture yet of the what it called the "common strategy" the terrorists used to commandeer the four airliners that were flown into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. At a hearing yesterday, the 9/11 commission played publicly for the first time dramatic portions of a taped phone call from American Airlines flight attendant Betty Ong, revealing the fear and confusion aboard Flight 11 after the hijackers stabbed at least two crew members before crashing the plane into the North Tower.
In a separate report yesterday, the 10-member bipartisan commission revealed that nine of the 19 hijackers had been flagged by the Federal Aviation Administration's computer passenger screening system before boarding their flights. The system alerts airport security screeners to more thoroughly check passengers who buy one-way tickets or pay with cash. FAA procedures at the time called the luggage of the "selectees" to be screened for explosives.
According to the report, three of the five hijackers aboard Flight 11 were designated selectees by the computer system, known as CAPPS, but one hijacker had checked no luggage and screeners scanned the bags of the other two for explosives. All five hijackers aboard American Flight 77 -- which crashed into the Pentagon -- were selectees and their luggage was held before they were confirmed on the aircraft, and no further screening was done.
One hijacker aboard United Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania, was flagged and his bag was screened for explosives before being loaded onto the plane, the report said. No terrorists aboard United Flight 175, which crashed into the South Tower, were flagged.
In its report on what happened aboard the jets, the commission concluded that the hijackers made bomb threats on at least three of the four planes and shot pepper spray on at least two flights.
Passengers calling from cell phones noted the use of box cutters on only one flight, the report said. The commission also said it was skeptical of an earlier report that a gun was aboard one plane.
At yesterday's hearing, the commission focused on evidence gathered from at least 11 passengers and flight crew members who communicated with family members, employers and friends from the doomed flights. The hearing culminated with the taped calls from Ong, the American Airlines flight attendant, who used an onboard phone.
The commission, which has been hampered by obstacles since its creation in late 2002, announced yesterday that it will publicly press for a two-month extension of its statutory deadline, May 27. Any extension, which must be approved by Congress and the White House, would push the commission's work further into the presidential campaign.
The White House and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) have said they would oppose any extension. But Kristen Breitweiser, widow of World Trade Center victim Ronald Breitweiser, said she hopes the appeal from the commission will changes their minds.
Commission member Timothy J. Roemer, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana, said, "We need this extension in order to thoroughly sift through all the facts, carefully evaluate a set of recommendations and not have a rush to judgment."
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